scubasteve20
New User
Hi everyone. The greatest woman in the world found a way to gift me a well-used 8n for Valentine's day yesterday. *AWESOME* For light farming use on our new little 8 acre homestead. I've never owned a tractor, driven several back in the day. I'm very mechanically & electrically inclined but these old systems are a little out of my wheelhouse. I need some help getting her right.
I've done the basic research to figure out what parts I'm dealing with somewhat. This left me very confused...
Backstory: I believe it to be a 1947 tractor with front mount dist. Previous owner can't tell me much about it other than he's had it about 50 years, no recollection about what mechanics & friends have done to it over the years & he's not super mechanically inclined. He's used a truck to pull start it the last few years (claims bad flywheel, have doubts about that), it sat for 8 months & pull starting wouldn't work yesterday. Had dead battery, fresh gas in it, smelled fuel vapors coming out of exhaust when pulling, all mechanics rotate properly, engine has some compression, not sure how much. Seemed like no spark. Sounded like engine was running while being pulled in gear with clutch out, never got a pop that sounded like ignition fired.
Figured old ignition problems so we pushed her onto the trailer and hauled her home. Upon further inspection, it has an added round coil feeding into the original coil (all old parts, done a while ago), retains points and condenser, I removed the distributor already to verify. Also, has an alternator sloppily added but I can't find any other evidence of a 12v conversion. I have no idea how to tell... are there 6v alternators?, and if so, would anyone do that?
I'm not sure where to start. I know I need ignition work & probably charging work too. I don't even know if I need a 6v or 12v battery at this point, no markings on current battery. It's configured for POS ground still.
Photos attached in hopes that they'll help figure out what I should do.
I'm fine keeping a points/condenser ignition but would prefer to have an alternator vs generator. I'll throw some decent money at it to make it work well and rework whatever I need to. Thanks in advance for any ideas and help y'all can toss my way. If it landed in your lap, what would you do with it?
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I've done the basic research to figure out what parts I'm dealing with somewhat. This left me very confused...
Backstory: I believe it to be a 1947 tractor with front mount dist. Previous owner can't tell me much about it other than he's had it about 50 years, no recollection about what mechanics & friends have done to it over the years & he's not super mechanically inclined. He's used a truck to pull start it the last few years (claims bad flywheel, have doubts about that), it sat for 8 months & pull starting wouldn't work yesterday. Had dead battery, fresh gas in it, smelled fuel vapors coming out of exhaust when pulling, all mechanics rotate properly, engine has some compression, not sure how much. Seemed like no spark. Sounded like engine was running while being pulled in gear with clutch out, never got a pop that sounded like ignition fired.
Figured old ignition problems so we pushed her onto the trailer and hauled her home. Upon further inspection, it has an added round coil feeding into the original coil (all old parts, done a while ago), retains points and condenser, I removed the distributor already to verify. Also, has an alternator sloppily added but I can't find any other evidence of a 12v conversion. I have no idea how to tell... are there 6v alternators?, and if so, would anyone do that?
I'm not sure where to start. I know I need ignition work & probably charging work too. I don't even know if I need a 6v or 12v battery at this point, no markings on current battery. It's configured for POS ground still.
Photos attached in hopes that they'll help figure out what I should do.
I'm fine keeping a points/condenser ignition but would prefer to have an alternator vs generator. I'll throw some decent money at it to make it work well and rework whatever I need to. Thanks in advance for any ideas and help y'all can toss my way. If it landed in your lap, what would you do with it?
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